ClutchFans Game Thread: Suns @ Rockets 12/26/2016

Well, his team is winning more games than theirs are. Kind of an important stat, don't you think?

 

Beverley is the real Rockets MVP to me. Harden is a liability when playing against good teams, he better step up his game big time, otherwise we ain't going anywhere in the PO.

 

Thanks to Beverley. Before his come back, this team was 6-5.

 

Harden shoots below 50 TS% and has PER of 20.8 against top 10 defense. MVP tho.

 

I have to concede bev plays with more heart and passion than Harden, but u must really dislike Harden if u can't see what he brings to the team. Careless as he is, still able to capture so much of the defense attention. Without him no way rockets get so many open shots. The games that we barely lose to the so called elite teams it because of overall team effort. You can't nitpick one player, where's the bashing on the team for not making the shots from Harden sexy passes? To me u just a Harden hater, not even a true rocket fan. Remember it's a fking team game, Harden might be careless, but it's the entire team's fault if we lose.

 

I hate the fact that Harden shoots below 50 TS% and has PER of 20.8 against top 10 defense, and turns the ball over at nearly 6 times per game.

 

Yet somehow we are winning @ 23-9 and in third seed in the intense Western Conference. Oh wait it's a fking team sport

 

Because Beverley. Before his return, we were 6-5.

 

Woohoo Merry Xmas Clutchfans! Nothing beats the bitter taste of a close defeat more than a good-old fashioned Terrence Jones on homeless man stomping of an opponent. After 31 games, I think we can finally say these about the Houston Rockets: they are legit. They are pretty much a guaranteed win against mid-level teams and a 50-50 against top teams (almost all wins and losses against other contenders under 10 pts). They are now 3rd seed in the West and I expect them to maintain that standing or even better it as the season ends.

I'm not sure where the Rockets go from here, it's hard to make changes because the team is playing so well, a bad change could disrupt the chemistry right now the Rox are 1+1+1=5, if you trade a core guy away it may just be a 1+1.5+1=4. From what I can see though the Rox need two things:

1. Another scoring option. The Rox right now are 10-1 when Ryno scores 15 or more points. I take it as the Rockets needing just a tiny bit more offensive push to put them over the top, this is shown in 6 of our losses being 6 or below pts. GSW and CLE both have 3 guys scoring 20 pts and one guy going double digits (LBJ, Irving, Love+Frye or Durant, Curry, Thompson+Green). In comparison the Rox have just one guy scoring 20 pts (Harden), 1 guy almost scoring 20 pts (Gordon), and then 3 guys all scoring double digits. That "almost" is really what gets to the Rox, so we need another double digit scorer to make up for it. One can argue SAS have a similar scoring distribution and don't have any issues, but SAS play a slow pace and half court style of play, as a whole SAS averages almost 9 less PPG but also allow way less pts than the rest of the contenders so that's why they still win. Thing is I don't know if a trade is still needed to fix this, with every passing game Ryno, Ariza, Bev and Dekker get more familiar with the MDA offense, you can see them growing almost game by game in terms of comfort and aggresiveness so maybe that missing push will come internally from them.

2. I think the Rox also need a lanky center who can run and finish. This is obviously a big issue, Capela, Harrell and Nene are doing a fine job but we can see in this game they really struggle in rebounding against 7-1 dudes, even if they happen to be scrubs. In the playoffs when the shots are don't go in as well the lack of rebounding is gonna kill us, I can totally see Utah, Grizz and SAS making games way harder than they need to be. I think the Rox should definitely prioritize getting a big guy who can just grab rebs from the sky, experienced vets like Tyson Chandler or Bogut or even young prospects like Bender/Len (as an example not specifically those guys) would totally bring a dimension this team needs. Capela, Nene, Harrell and even Chinanu are all the same type of player with just varying skills and talent level, I think we need a different kind of big to complement that lineup.

 

It's a fking Team sport. Get it through thick skull. The team worked together and contributed to the overall record. Harden steady scoring assist. Gordon and Anderson ariza catching on fire. Bev return and massive improvement in his overall play style. Rise of capella and Harden pnr. Brewer hustle(snicker), the rise of our rookies decker and Harrell. Our cheerleaders and our coach having a set rotation. Bev return was good timing, stop acting like he's the main reason of our record. We Rocket fans should just be happy our team is rolling along and having great chemistry.

 

I just hate the fact that Harden shoots below 50 TS% and has PER of 20.8 against top 10 defense (basically what we can expect from Harden going against playoff level defense), and turns the ball over at nearly 6 times per game.

Beverley, you da real MVP.

 

You'd think after the past few tough seasons we've had that CF posters would know better than to feed the trolls

 

I usually just read posters and just started myself, but I just put him on ignore. My Year goal is to say something so Gud get dem likes from the big honchos of clutch fan like dd, dreamshook, and etc.

 

Really want to see Harden average 7 TOV per game (now almost at 6), it would be EPIC.

 

Great win.

 

I wish everybody on the Rox team would get 5.5 TOVs a game with 11.9 assists and 26 pts.

 

I wish nobody on this team shoots below 50 TS% against top 10 defense, and then pad numbers only against weak competition.

 

We've only had less than 4-5 matches with top 10 defense to draw conclusions on that is just dumb. Basic statistics tell you need at minimum 30 instances before you can make a judgement because of small sample size. Why are you making conclusions on a few games? Based on Brewer's 51 pt game you'd think he's a franchise level scorer.